Wednesday, April 27, 2011

im glad to hear its beautiful in so cal of course hahah its getting colder every day and the wind doesnt stop but i just use my umbrella for protection it sometimes works ha...ive learned on the mission that everything has a purpose i mean everything! its so cool to actually witness the lords hand in your life. he places people in front of you to help. for example okay so a miracle happened and i was able to get permissin to take blood monday and get the results yesterday and were in bh right now to go to the doctors but how this happened was we taught a lady who worked at the hospital and we asked her to help us figure everything out. she basically did everything, with out running into her and teaching her that lesson i wouldn't have been here today for the apptmt... or when we need to find someone or and address there are people always ready to help almost like angels that god sent to help his servant...

we have been teaching ellen who lives on the street we finished teaching her and we told her we would look for a homeless shelter for her. the first house we knocked on after we taught her was a person that is a social worker, hello thanks heavenly father, this stuff happens to us daily- hourly- i should say i love it, i love the mysteriousness of our heavnly fathers plan. we just have to go with it and trust him, he knows what he is doing... this letter will be pretty short bc we're going to miss our bus but a few quick updates...joão was confirmed sunday and is offish.. i made a contact on a bus this week and that person came to church even though it is 40 min bus ride! the elects come... no matter what.

so growing up in the gospel we learn as a child we are children of god "sou um filho de deus" i forget that not everyone knows this.. we were teachin ellen and she still is having drouble quiting with drugs. its basically all she has she says. i stopped and had to tell her.. her father is a king and she is a daughter of god with more potential then she could imagine. it was really emotional telling someone as if for the first time that they are a daughter of god with worth. i said you have to have a vision for the eternities not for tomorrow but live knowing this life is just a slice of the cake and that every decision you make your heavenly father is cheering for you on the sideline.. i tried to help with the eternal perspective bit, with her i think it will help, but helping somone quit hardcore drugs is not easy.we had interviews with the pres this past week went great.. we're getting 18 missionaries this friday so transfers will be saturday, so for now i still don't know where ill be next week. i love barbacena. i want to stay but if there are sisters- i might have to train according to sister flora..okay got to go our bus is litterally leaving.. keep killing it. remember this life is just one little slice of the cake its a good cake but only a small slice remember that hahah ta bomlove you allsister corbin fique firme

(Pictures are of Sister Parella-Mission Presidents wife, All the Sisters serving in Belo Horizonte)

Thursday, April 21, 2011

so this week was great! we find out if we get transfered this monday already.. i dont want to leave here. the members are starting to help and right now we have some promising investigators for the future.. we just found out that 19 missionaries are coming in friday i dont know if sisters are included or americans too but i will know by next letter.. barbacena is getting colder everyday i hope my clothes will do... i made 8 months monday already just in a few days we get to call home and then ill have 9 months = half my mission is already over... these past couple months have flown..sunday João was baptized! finally. we met with him saturday we watched the restoration video and after i invited him to be baptized for sunday.. he said i dont know if im ready i dont know alot still.. i said joão even the prophet doesnt know everything, your ready to take this step in your life. he said you really think? i said i dont think i know bc i feel the spirit right now telling me you are i invited him one more time and with certainty he siad VOU (i will). his baptism was great except he had to be baptized three times bc they couldnt figure out how to get him under the water sister flora and i tried to keep it together. a gift was also wating for us at church. a women named ellen went just to visit. she was curious about the church and decided to check it out. i asked if we could meet with her to teach some more about the church i asked where she lived and she said no where i was confused and she said on the street.. before i could respond she said i ran away from my husband that beat me and i have no family they have all passed so i ran from city to city..in shock i didnt know wht to say but she seemed hap´py and said dont worry i want to learn about the church so we marked to teach her at the capela. when we got ther we found where she sleeps the side of the church where the garbage goes we found a pillow and a small blanket. i wanted to cry i coulndt imagine her life. we taught her the first lesson and the spirit was super strong i told the first vision and felt tears in my eyes i looked up and she had tears in hers i passed the pic of js to sister flora before the tears fell. after we asked how she was feeling she said que differente... ive never felt this before in any other church. she told us that she was planning on leaving barbacena after the church but she wants to stay to learn more... she siad ihave been looking for this my whole life hoping from to church to church leaving when i dont feel god.. i said you found it. with happiness in her eyes we sang families can be together forever. i have high hopes for ellen i already have a connection with her i just want whats best. everytime we teach people like ellen its so crazy to see how the lord works he put her in a city in a spot next to the church where she would visit and change her life. there is no doubt in my mind that our heavenly father is mindful of every single child he carefully lays out his plan with out any of us realizing whats happening. we just have to have trust in him and follow what is son said "be not afraid...only believe"-jesus cristo.i love you allaté mais...fique firme

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Barbacena- a little town in the country (Brazil) This is Aubree's companion Sister Flora...in their study room.

ya- im loving barbacena im getting used to the area a bit more. the food here is about the same but really simple alot of the members are poor and do try to help the missionaries with lunches so its usualy just rice and beans with some kind of meat. ya my clothes are started to turn yellow hah but its starting to get cold so im going to start wearing some of my long sleeve shirts and cardigans i have yet warn and guess what we got a WASHING MACHINE AND A MICROWAVE ive never been so happy to get a machine that was so normal to us back in the states but here a washing machine is a luxury and if you have a microwave your killing it haha. so maybe my clothes will hold up a little longer. my shoes are great. i wear the chacos everyday but ill prob start wearing the others more bc its starting to get cold and my toes freeze ha.. o good and i sent the chip last week so you should get it sat or monday.. you can erase everything but you dont have to bc i like to watch the old videos and pics of the family.

well i dont have any excited news this week.. sadly.but some funny news, a member in the ward named antonio he was a straight hippie before the church still is a little bit.. he loves to sing he is okay ha well last year sister clement told him she would come back for him and take him to the states so he can sing for the mo tab.. and he believed her!! sister clement always joked like that but no one ever believed her ah but he did and always talks about it ha i didnt have the heart to tell him she isnt coming this sunday was testimony meeting and he even talked about it at the pulpit ahah sister flora couldnt stop laughing got to love branches testimony meetings this is one wasnt any different. bore my testimony cried but no tears! progression i think. o and i got to watch a little bit of the movie charley..? have you seen it? its from the church, ive never even heard of it ha its way good but i didnt get to finish it.so we had an experience with a man named tiago this week he was a contact and wanted to know why our church was any different then the other churches.(strong evangelical). i said great well come back and tell you. we got there and all he wanted to do was bash..the spirit was only there when the vision was told. sister flora was trying to show scriptures and that the truth is restored but his heart was so closed when i asked him to pray about it he said i will not ask god if this true bc i already dont believe it...i tried to wrap it up an thank him for his time. when we left his house sister flora had to sit down i said whats wrong she said i feel weak.. she said im sorry i shouldnt have kept going.. i said it was okay. i told her i was like that in the beggining all i wanted to do was show that it was all in the scriptures its so easy if they just read but i told her i quickly came to realize it is not us at all. its the spirit. i also told her that i also came to realize that the mission is hard not bc of the walking or the crazy hills in bh but the spirit that is always being felt and rejected.. you feel it so strong one moment and when you think a person is understanding you get slammed with a no.. she gathered her strength and said eu vou melhorar(ill be better) i said no one is perfect then she went and bought a little treat to feel better ha...i was reading in jesus the christ and his invitation is this "come and see" only those that will come to know him will see, hear, feel and know the truth.. but its up to them to take the invite. luke 22:32 'but i have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethen'alma 29:9 sister flora read this to me this morning.. loved it, i love you all the work is coming along...até proxima semana.. fique firme

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

wow where to begin.... i never know. Conf was amazing but i will start with the beginning of the week. remembere joão... he wants to get baptized but his wife didnt want him to. so what did we do we ran over there and gave her a little bit of the spirit and she let it happen! the only prob was he left this weekend and his phone has been off for 3 days! the president of the branch went over to his house to see what happened and to schedule his baptism but he wasnt home. ill keep you updated on him.. he can baptized any day we just have to find him ha. well this past week we have been praying hard for some blessings some people to teach de verdade. i looked in the area book and whipped out some names to go visit. one in particular we couldnt find.. i wanted to give up bc it wasted about an hour justlooking for the street 5 min later sister flora said i found it! we knocked on the door and it was the wrong person he said she used to live here so we walked down to the bottom of the house and i yelled out the name a different women came to the door and i asked if she knew the person we were looking for she said no i just moved in two weeks ago... i said okay wel do you want to hear a message ha she was surprisingly open and let us in. as we began i asked if she wanted to ask or thank anything in the prayer she said direction...after the prayer i asked what exactly are you wanting direction in.. she said to be honest. religion. every church talks about something different, my mom is really firm in her church and my dad in an another, i have been praying for about a week now to god to send me or show the right path... about a week ago was when i pulled this address out of the area book.. i looked at sister flora and we both started to laugh. she said why are you laughing? because we are your answer... we started the lesson and with tears in her eyes she knew it was true, not only we were answers to her prayers but she was our answer to ours.. the next day the lord gave us another one.. his name is henrique he wants to change his life.. during the invite to be baptized before i finished he said eu quero.. the lord puts these people in our way to show them the truth. its just up to them to recognize their answer. last friday everything was great joão was interviewed found some new people but bam where is my planner! yup lost it... i was so sad. your planner is everything to you as a missionary you have contacts numbers tudo! i felt like my dog died if i had a dog thats what i felt like ha.. no joke prayed in every prayer to find my planner sister flora laughed bc i was still praying for it sunday..conf came around and we could only watch conf if we had different people in each session. everyone fell saturday morning ughh soo bummed ive never wanted to watch conf so bad in my life.. but we managed to bring two people to the second. henrique all dressed up and ready. sunday we brought mauricio and struggled to bring christiane to the second... but miracles do happen and i found my PLANNER i was so happy i was running up and down the street. apparently a little girl picked it up and has been using a little but the mom noticed and kept it until we came back looking for it. heavenly father always listens to our prayers even if we think they are for reasons doidas. right now we are teaching a family that im super excited about we found them in the area book too.. they were taught by the missionaries two years ago when the mom was going through cancer treatment.. they are progressing right now and all of them are reading the bom.. have high hopes for them.. ill keep you posted. i have a testimony that the lord is at the head of this work bc the little miracles i see everyday... theres no way he isnt.. im reading luke right now and in chap 9: 62 says no man having put his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom.. im trying to put everything into this work and not look back this opportunity only comes once and its passing fast.. everyday were building our character to have a firm foundation... luke 6:48 when the flood comes.. it cannot shake it for it was founded upon a rock. vamos construir uma rocha com firmeza! i love you all! send much love from brasil. sister corbin